Chainlink (LINK) is not yet a top 10 cryptocurrencycryptocurrency by market cap, but at this rate, it soon might.

Chainlink today shot up by close to 20% in price and is currently trading for $5.80, eclipsing its previous all-time high of just under $5 that it hit in March of this year.

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LINK is still a relatively new coin, having launched in an ICO in September 2017, which raised more than $30 million. Chainlink sold for a mere $0.09 during its pre-sale, and started off its few months trading at around $0.20 per coin. It has since gained more than 2,460% to its price in less than three years.

In late June, LINK came close to breaking its previous all-time high, but fell short. Today, it’s shattered its record.

While it’s unclear what is driving LINK’s surge in price, it may have something to do with the booming DeFi market, of which Chainlink is an integral part.

DeFi tokenstokens are hotter than ever—and just today total locked value across DeFi protocols broke $2 billion (also an all-time high), according to data from DeFi Pulse. And tokens associated with these protocols have each experienced serious gains as of late as well.

Image: Shutterstock

Ethereum, Bitcoin locked in DeFi hits all-time high of $2 billion

DeFi is growing by leaps and bounds, and today, the nascent industry has hit a new milestone. The total value locked (TVL) in decentralized finance has doubled to $2 billion in just over three weeks, as measured by DeFi Pulse.  The rapid accumulation started on June 15, the same day Compound began distributions of the COMP governance token, allowing community members to control the fate of the decentralized money lending service. It appears the relatively smooth roll out of distributed governanc...

NewsDeFi
3 min read
Alexander Behrens

Meanwhile, the rest of the cryptocrypto market today is a mixed bag. Bitcoin and Ethereum are down slightly following a big day for ETH yesterday, while Cardano (ADA) is still riding the high of its Shelley launch, up more than 15% on the day.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed by the author are for informational purposes only and do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice.

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